This week, Europe's first underwater restaurant (and the largest of its kind in the world) will open its doors to its first set of diners. Guests will be treated to a 15 to 18 course set menu featuring dishes that showoff locally sourced ingredients like sea arrow grass and Norwegian berries, as well as a lot of seafood. 

Under, which has the dual meaning in Norwegian of "below" and "wonder," has been designed by the international firm Snøhetta, who have had a recent string of buzzed-about architectural proposals amongst which the submerged dining room has stood out prominently.

Sitting 16 feet underwater, construction for the project was an ambitiously orchestrated affair. The restaurant had to be built on a barge near the coast and then towed 600 feet to its intended location. To submerge the reinforced concrete structure, developers filled it with 450 tons of water and secured it to the sea floor with 18 anchoring points. The rather delicate and exciting feat was a major milestone for the team.

"The project is a nice mixture of madness and reason. You definitely have to be a bit fearless in order to create something this spectacular" said Under co-owner Gaute Ubostad, for whom the challenges associated were part of the allure. 

Likened to a sunken periscope, the structure had to be carefully engineered to withstand pressure and shock from rugged sea conditions. Located in Lindesnes, Norway, the team deliberately chose a place known for its intense weather conditions in order to give diners the most dramatic of views. The interior, with soft oak cladding, has been intentionally designed to mitigate the unruliness outside by creating a calm and welcoming atmosphere.

The restaurant will also double as a marine research center and its concrete walls will eventually become an artificial reef. Scientists studying fish behavior will be able to monitor the population dynamics of key marine species on a regular basis and will collaborate with the kitchen on sustainable harvesting techniques. Commitment to environmental sustainability being a central focus for the practice, the design team wanted to fully integrate the project into its marine environment. 

“Under is a natural progression of our experimentation with boundaries," says Snøhetta Founder and Architect, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen. “In this building, you may find yourself under water, over the seabed, between land and sea. This will offer you new perspectives and ways of seeing the world, both beyond and beneath the waterline.”